Regarding the Battle of the Schindler's Lists: One person may prefer Yulia's. Another may prefer Joshua's. Neither is wrong. Me? I found Yulia's more emotionally powerful, but there are definitely aspects of Joshua's that I prefer--for instance, his movements are more finished and less (CoP-style) rushed.

I bet 20 years from now, karne will be weeping in front of youtube, rewatching Yulia's Schindler's List again and again and whispering through tears: "God, she was so good for a deaf girl!"

Excuse me, but I would appreciate it if you please don't put offensive words in my mouth. I said she didn't hear the music. I never said she was deaf. That is very offensive.

My best friend is about 80% deaf and is one of the best musicians in my city. She plays the piano, violin, trumpet, french horn, and dozens of other instruments I could only dream of. She can hear music with the best of them, even if she doesn't always hear what I'm saying.

You could put any music on behind Yulia and she would react the same way.

Originally Posted by karne

Yulia Lipnitskaya can't hear or feel the music either and people seem to love her, but I'd still rather watch Gracie.

These are clinical descriptions of deaf person, they look like copied straight from laryngologist's notes.
Quite demeaning and disrespectful things to write about perfectly healthy, aspiring young girl athlete.

And the difference between us is that I have only the most deep and honest respect for your friend and her achievements, in contrast to your contempt and lack of respect towards Yulia.
More than that, I don't think I've ever witnessed single fan of Yulia on this forum being disrespectful towards any other skater (including Gracie). Sadly it doesn't work the other way around.

These are clinical descriptions of deaf person, they look like copied straight from laryngologist's notes.
Quite demeaning and disrespectful things to write about perfectly healthy, aspiring young girl athlete.

Not at all. They are the description of someone who cannot hear music. Quite a different thing to being deaf.

Newsflash: Yulia is not the best skater in the world, she is not the best skater of all time. And I've no idea where you decide that Yuliatrons are all saints, because they are certainly not.

Of the ones most likely to compete next year, Julia is the best of them - at this point. Mainly due to being arguably the most likely to give a good performance (although Radionova might give her a run in the consistency department), and having nice spins and pretty good artistry (though not the best of the field, IMO).

But is she the best skater in the world right now? Heck no. Kim and Asada have her easily beat in that department. Kostner too, if she skates to her potential, like in Sochi.

One thing I noticed over the "summer" ice shows she did was that she slowed down a lot and held things out much better. Maybe she was just a tired 15 yr old after a grueling season but to me it seemed like her jumps look a lot better. I hope Yagudin was teaching her some jump techniques or something because she seemed to gain strength in that department. If nothing else she is showing more control. Here is a video from her Moscow performance. See for yourself if you like The jumps by the piano made me nervous.